Growing up in Grayville: A High School Story
by Crunchiecat
Summary: Grayville was meant to be dull, why cant it stay that way?" When youre new at Grayville High everybody knows your name. Everything seems to be in black and white. But behind the scenes, Greyville may be a little more interesting. At least to Amy Rose...
1. Horse plushies Can't live without em!

_I'm positive this story will be good if I persevere with it! I'm going to aim for at least one chapter a week! It's easier with this story coz I'm not relying on reviews, so enjoy the story!_

_Ages of people appearing in this Chapter:_

_Amy: 15_

_Sonic: 15_

_Heather (Mum): 40_

* * *

I didn't want to move, I opposed the change with every fibre in my being. I was positive my 'mum' had gone over to the dark side. Didn't she love me? But I wasn't going down without a fight, or the knowledge that I didn't do anything to try and stop this.

I had put sticky notes with 'Home Sweet Home' written on them with sharpie all over our house; the kitchen, the laundry, under the couch (don't ask, 'mum' usually looks under there for spare change) and everywhere else my 'mother' usually spent her evil days.

I pestered my 'mum' constantly. To the point where she hid my mobile phone (oh I love that phone) and threatened not to tell me where it was until I shut up.

But despite my best efforts, my constant nagging, and my 'not-so-subtle' messages splayed around my favourite house, 'mum' still was fixed on moving. And if you're wondering why I've put 'mum' in inverted commas, it's because she doesn't deserve the title of my mother anymore.

My name is Amy. I'm 4'6' (average hight for a Mobian), I'm sixteen years old and I have a Mum, but no dad though. People say that having a parent die is much worse than having your parents divorce, but I have to disagree. Although the death of a parent would be so much sadder, at least your dad/mum stays a hero in your eyes.

I was eight when my dad walked out on me. And ten when he contacted us, telling me and my mum he had a new family with a new kid. He told me I should come down for Christmas, spend some time with my step-mum and new brother. I don't think I've hated anyone more in my whole life. The bitter resentment towards my father scared me, and it also scared my mum.

Every Christmas my dad would send me a card, and a picture of his new baby growing up. The picture always was of him and his new wife, supporting the little guy as he learnt to walk, his first day of school, and other big moments of his life. There was usually a little gift with it; a doll, a hair brush, some random pencil case or drawing my little bro had made for me. And each Christmas I would send my little brother a card, telling him how old he looked with his school hat on or asking him to say Merry Christmas to my step-mum, then sticky tape a bag of skittles to the envelope and a picture of his painting on my bedroom wall. I wouldn't talk to my dad.

I always wondered whether dad would walk out on them as he did with us, but he always looked so happy with them. He never smiled like that around me.

I gave up on being sad or angry with dad, and settled with forgetting him. Moving on without him.

Moving from my house, however, made no sense whatsoever.

"Muuum" I whined, hitting that pitch where it even annoyed me. "Why are we moving again?" I started clicking my teeth together, resurfacing that annoying habit that peeved off my mother so much. She twitched.

"Ames" She warns "You know I have a promotion, and the job offer is far away. We need this money…" All I hear is another pathetic excuse to leave my old town. Mum's work colleagues were giving her hell back in our old place, Dosa (made that up) because she was a single mum.

So what? Kids at my old school used to pester me about it, until I ignored them. Then the guys and girls realised I didn't give a shit, and left me alone. My friends were always cool about it, most of their parents were divorced as well, but they all remarried. I found it MUCH easier to talk to them.

But mum was impatient; she couldn't handle the constant stress of whispers and sidelong glances. She asked her boss for a transfer, but because he felt sorry for her he claimed it was a 'promotion' and relocated her to some random country bumpkin town. I was a bit of a city slicker, to say the least. now we were in graysville, which was about as sunny as it's name.

"Liar, liar…" I whispered, she ground her teeth. "Awww, come on Amy, forgive me this once. Puh-leeeaase?" She pouted and made her eyes huge in that freakishly cute way she does. I grumbled, knowing she had won the first round.

We arrived at a house five minutes later. It was like those little country houses you see in low-budget western movies complete with a little wooden porch, big tin roof, and teeny-tiny attic window. I loved it, but I didn't understand why we would need the huge field surrounding it.

Mum caught my gaze and her eyes went wide. "Wow, you don't know how big two acres is until you see it, huh?" I felt my own eyes go wide, and I snapped my head around to look at her.

"_**Two acres?**_ Mum, that's, like, bigger than a football field!" I knitted my hands into my hair and let out a little shriek of delight. So I could get something out of this situation…

She looked at me with a smile and nodded, until she caught onto what I was thinking of and shook her head. "I can't afford one, Ames. I've told you this a billion times." She said crossing her arms. I stomped my foot in frustration. "Yeah, But **I** can! I've been saving up for one for, like, forever! Besides, you didn't say you didn't have enough money, you said we didn't have enough _space._" I added slyly. Mum rolled her eyes and stormed off to the boxes.

"Amy! I'm not getting you a horse!" Yup, you heard mum right. I had always wanted a pony, ever since I was six years old and a very rich family moved into the estate down the road. They had a son called Konna who owned a horse, and gave me lessons. After four years Konna's family moved away, and I had fallen in love with riding horses. Mum (and Dad for two years) were totally against horses, and I started saving for one with the blind wish of riding bareback in a long flowing dress on the beach, just like in the movies.

I wasn't giving up THAT easily, but right now I had to unload my room.

…

That sounded weird.

"So you're new here?" A voice said from behind her. I snapped around in shock, startled to hear somebody sneak up on me. My senses were usually so acute… Okay so that wasn't _entirely_ true… But it was still unnatural. I barely noticed I had dropped the box I was carrying.

He was a hedgehog, a very _fine_ hedgehog. Blue fur, cute emerald eyes, baggy pants, red polo shirt… He was gorgeous! And I thought coming here I would only find country bumpkins, or those guys with the buck teeth and Okie accents.

"Huh? Oh, Me?" _Oh, smooth Ames. Yeah you, who else? _He laughed, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Yeah, you. We don't get many new people here…" He trailed off. Eyes suddenly loosing contact with mine and wandering over to the box I dropped. I looked down as well, continued to blush five shades of red, and went on to cram my collection of horse plushies back into it's tiny box.

I hope he hadn't seen them.

"Nice collection you've got there…"

Drat.

"Oh these? Nonononononononono, you've got it all wrong! I'm- ah- holding them for a friend!"

The guy seemed to believe me at first, but then why else would my mother be around.

"What are you talking about Ames? You've had those plushies with you since you were 5! I can remember you sitting up late at night after a scary movie, clutching that smelly pony like a vice… Mr. Twinkie was his name, I think…" I was going to kill her.

"Okay, ummmm… I think I better be going now…" The blue hottie turned and walked away, leaving me scarlet and angry.

I picked up my box, blowing the dust off a little pink pony inside. As I trudged to the door and past my mum, I sent a death look that would have any mere mortal on their knees. But my mother simply smiled, shifting the weight of the two boxes she had in her arms.

"What a nice boy Amy, he seemed very interested with Mr. Twinkie!" Her voice was caked with good humour, and I saw she wasn't out purely to humiliate me. I grumbled in frustration.

'If there aint' a pony outside my window tomorrow morning, all hell will break loose…" I said when I walked past her towards my room.

My mothers sweet laughter echoed down the halls, causing even me to smile.

* * *

_I know I got a bit sloppy towards the ending, but I just wanted to submit this ASAP! Apart from the usual Sega crew that star in most of the stories, I will also have some others from Archie and STC (no Sally Acorn!)_

_The Sega characters are;_

_Sonic_

_Amy_

_Rouge_

_Cream_

_Knuckles_

_Tails_

_Eggman_

_Shadow_

_I MIGHT add the Chaotix_

_Other Sonic Sources:_

_Tekno the Canary_

_Mighty the Armadillo_

_Scourge!_

_OCs of mine and friends:_

_Charity the Cat_

_Seth Avia_

_Felix Rivvett_

_Adriana the Dark vixen_

_Eric the ESPN hedgehog._

_May add more from mine and friends, but they would only be extra's ^^_


	2. Bus Ride from hell

YAY! new chapter so soon! be amazed, BE AMAZED!

I found it impossible to just do a simple morning to afternnon chapter so i went with the bus ride...

2075 words! Thats a loooong bus ride!

Introducing some new charras! (people who speak)

Cream: 14

Tekno: 15

Bus Driver: 29 (he doesn't speak but oh well!)

* * *

I would have said it was just another day, but then I would have been lying to myself. I hate lying to myself. It makes me feel transparent.

As I tried to desperately un-crumple my shorter-than-short skirt with my hands (bad experience with an iron- don't ask), tie the tie around the collar of my new white cotton school shirt, and grimace as I tied my quills into two messy plaits that sort of flopped onto my shoulders like they had already given up, I began to think whether or not I was going to meet anybody.

Well, of course I was going to meet somebody, ah-duh. I just hoped I was going to like them. Or they were going to like me. Either way, I just hoped they weren't going to judge me by my appearances.

I tossed a desperate look at my books, grimacing as I noticed them splayed open over my bed and floor. Last night I had thought it would be super cool to rock up at school with my books rimmed with pink fluff and little pictures I had cutely drawn all over the front and back.

Now that I had carefully thought about it, it seemed stupid. _Oooh, what a weirdo! She's put pink fluff all over her math book!_ I could hear the whispers already.

My pestering now seemed futile, and I had already given up on the hope of returning to Dosa and reuniting with my friends. The thought of the thought of giving up depressed me, but then I would realise I was just being selfish, and I should think more about my mum's benefit. God, I am just a _Saint!_

"Ames, you done? I have bacon and it's not going to last long!" Mum only made bacon on two occasions: good days, and bad days. I was almost positive 'first day of school' fell under the _bad day's_ category. But mum thought on a different page from me.

"Coming!" I pipped, lacing up my black and baby blue lace-up boots. Some say black and baby-blue aren't a great combination, I love it. It's just so **diverse!**

As I trotted down the stairs, a small 'creak!' squeaking out each one as I stepped, the smell of bacon wafted luxuriously under my nose. Mum always burnt my bacon. But I still loved her for trying.

Me and mum sat on the couch eating our 'crispy' bacon and watching crappy morning soap operas, like we did every morning back in the city. It was actually nicer here than it was back at home, there was no squeal of tires outside our apartment window and the warm glow of the waking sun made me feel elated rather than cooked like my bacon. My mind soon drifted off to the school bus. Was it going to come to my door, or make me walk a hundred meters to the end of our driveway?

I was so freaking scared.

"Ames, I think the bus is here." Mum said, swiftly stealing a slice of bacon off of my plate. She crammed it into her mouth before I could snatch it back cheekily. I growled, grinding my teeth together. Then remembered to brush my teeth and forgot all about my bacon. _Amy, the girl that showed up to school with charcoal bacon in her teeth. _No thanks.

I guess I **was** being paranoid; the people at the school can't be THAT nasty… Can they? I willed the thought out of my head with ferociousness, but the internal debate in my head was hurting my brain:

_Think positive, think positive!_ Somebody you know might be there! It would make the whole thing just go a whole lot more smoothly…

Oh, great problem solving skills, Ames. Give yourself a pat on the back. OF COURSE NOBODY WILL BE THERE! There's more of a chance of meeting somebody I know in the _Sahara Desert_ than there would be in Graysville.

There was the cute blue hedgehog…

Who knows about your fluffy plushies collection? Give it up Amy, life now officially sucks.

…

Sometimes I scare myself.

When the bus pulled out the front door I was outside in a flash, there was no way I was going to run after the bus like I had to at my old school. I swear my old bus driver was a sociopath, he would have been glad to mow down a little kiddie with a puppy if it slowed us down from getting to school.

But the bus waited, and when I got on the driver was a clean-cut 30 year old grey mountain-fox with a sweet smile and a glitter in his eyes you sometimes see in contacts commercials. He was a **spunk!**

I wasn't the only one who thought so, apparently. There were three or four girls draped over the front of their chairs, gazing at Mr. Bus Driver like he would come and sweep them off of their feet. I smiled casually at him and gave him my little trademark peace-sign salute. Which he returned to me with a laugh and a wink.

As I slinked between the aisle of the bus, the four girls glared daggers at me that would have frozen hell, and I began to reconsider my impression-making skills.

I always used to sit at the back of the bus with my friends in Dosa, we would giggle most of the time, play 'sweet and sour' with the drivers and let some first-graders cuddle up on our laps in winter because they were 'cowd'. It was the life; I had loved it back in Dosa. I could _remember_ loving it back in Dosa.

But now a whole bunch of kids sat in the back, and my hopes of friendship were kicked in the gut a little harder.

My gaze brushed along the gang in the back seat glumly. A red echidna punching some random yellow fox playfully. A red and black armadillo that was sort of snoring on the shoulder of a green hedgehog, which had his head lolled back on the seat and was listening to an ipod. They seemed like friends. There was also a silver hedgehog and black/red hedgehog sitting in front of them, they seemed detached. Like they wanted to be anywhere but this bus.

Theeeeeen, there was the blue one. His eyes caught mine and he gave me a little half smile. Well, has anyone ever felt their heart explode? No, I'm sure you haven't. That little half-smile was like being pelted with hail and being wrapped in a little fuzzy duvet all at the same time. Bittersweet, but a tad more strong. Sweet, because I was pretty damn sure he was THE most gorgeous guy I have EVER seen, and bitter because I was pretty sure that everyone on this bus knew about my little 'orsie' collection (I couldn't say 'horsie' when I was six)

I was in the closest booth in a flash, heart hammering like a drum and cheeks red with embarrassment and shame.

"Is somebody banging on something?" The girl said next to me, a cream rabbit wearing a slightly-baggier version of the uniform I was wearing now. Oh goodie, she could hear my heart.

"Ha-ha, sorry girl. It's my new invention." Another voice pipped from behind. Oh, so it wasn't my heart, phew. My mind strayed from the blue boy as I looked at the device in her hand.

"What…" I mouthed. It was a Nintendo DS, or what looked like one. It had been spruced up with antennas and solar panels, not to mention a little whirring satellite spinning at the corner where the wifi should be. She was hitting it with a screw driver.

"S-Stop that! You won't fix anything by violence!" The bunny burst out from beside me, the girl stopped, and I got a better look at her. The uniform she was wearing also looked ill-fitting, like a hand-me-down. Her smooth, short green hair covered one huge pink eye in a messy side fringe and her slender hands now clasping the Ds thingo looked suddenly like the fragile feathers they were instead of violent machine-attacking devices.

"Oh, uh, yeah. I guess your right." She smiled sheepishly and tucked both the screwdriver and the gizmo into her big pockets.

"I'm Amy!" I pipped, wanting to change the subject. Both girls laughed a little.

"You're new here, aren't you" the green bird smiled knowingly and rocked her head back and forward like she was remembering her first day too. The bunny and I nodded, only surprising me a little. She had looked very relieved when I had slammed down into the seat next to her.

"I-I'm Cream!" The bunny said cheerfully with the slightest stutter, thrusting her hand back over to the bird. The bird smiled and shook it.

"Tekno, Tekno the Canary! Pleasure to meet you, Amy and Cream." They seemed nice and all, but I couldn't stop thinking about…

"Hey, guys…" I mumbled, touching my two index fingers together in a nervous habit. Both girls looked to me.

"Wh-Who'sethatboyoverthere?" I jammed a finger in the blue hedgehog's direction quickly then sunk deep into my chair. Tekno smiled knowingly again, cocking a finger to her lip in mock-thought.

"Oooh, I wonder. That's only SONIC THE HEDGEHOG! The cutest guy on the whoooole of Mobius!" Tekno said with a giggle. I got the impression she admired him, but wasn't really crushing on him like I was. Fine by me, I just wanted to know why I was acting all gooey around him.

The bus trip was alright, instead of passing high-rises and skyscrapers, we passed farms and cows. Once or twice we had to break because some cattle or sheep strayed onto the road. Other than that, the driver seemed like a sane person. I even think he got out once or twice to help a lady cross the road, or lure a cow to the other side of the road with some grain. The girls at the front cooed with pure love-struck teenage crushness.

Seriously…

TEKNO POV

Amy was a city slicker, it was so obvious. She looked so shocked to see a normal looking school enter up over the horizon, what did she expect? A farm? We weren't all bumpkins.

Knuckles was, but that was besides the point! I showed Amy to a locker and she crammed in her books. Sighing, I tapped her shoulder. She spun to face me.

"okay, you'll probably want to know about the social cliques here, woncha?" Amy nodded

"Alright, here I go; I'm Tekno, not the biggest social butterfly here. You're Amy from the city, the new chew toy" She winced "Rouge is a big-boobed, big-ego sort of girl. She has a knack for getting to a mans wallet. Scourge… Well, don't screw with Scourge. No pun intended. Sonic is a trackstar, rivalled by Shadow, who will only talk in a life or death situation. Matching Shadow's personality is Adriana, you two probably wouldn't be a good mix. Eric and Seth are like twins in personality… But they aren't exactly the 'best of friends' for obvious reasons…"

"Woah! How can you say this all in one breath?!" She smiled. I waved her off and continued.

"there's also Tails, Knuckles, Mighty… I think that's all you need to know about…" She smiled suddenly, and I got that feeling that maybe she was going to fit in here. And then a wave of depression seemed to seep over me again… I hope she'll stay with me; it would be nice to have a friend this year. As selfish as that sounds…

"This school is exactly like my old one! I guess there is a truckload of clique's?" I nodded "Well then I guess I'll fit in after all!" She beamed and twirled, catching her hand on one of the lockers and clutching it in pain. Unfortunately it had made a huge 'bang!', and everyone in the whole corridor had heard.

"Ah- ah hahahahaha! Ummm…." She stuttered and laughed a little, everyone began to softly snicker to themselves.

"Clutz…" She whispered, I snorted. No two schools were the same, but there was always one similarity.

Nobody _ever_ completely fits in

**Ever**

* * *

Too true, there's always going to be ONE PERSON at your school that doesn't like you, even if you think your fool proof. Whether it's a teacher or a student, there's always that somebody...

Enough with the depressing stuff, on with the disclaimer!

Bus driver and Seth-boy belongs to moi

Tekno to Fleetway

Adri and Eric to Adriana the Dark Vixen

Scourge to Archie or whereverthehellhecamefrom

Everyone else on the bus is Sega except for a few. I dont wanna write a proper disclaimer. I'm not a robot!

Trying very, very hard to keep writing and submitting!

Takkihutu is under construction, but currently lacking OCs, please feel free to submit!

**This story is kickass in my own mind, if you don't like my style of writing then please do not review. I have read some flames and decided I do not want them littering up my inbox. Take them to somebody who cares. All characters are based after ME somehow (even cannon), insulting my story is insulting me!**


	3. The first day always sucks

Liek, omg,another chapter. I love this story so far, and I can't wait till I introduce shads. But this chapter is mainly Amy, Tekno and Sonic. A _few_OCs, like Silver Wolf, Adri and Charity. I tried to capture typical school life, tel me if I failed or won :D

* * *

Graysville High, Amy though wearily, looked just as sullen as its name. A splash of grey there, a dash of white there and _voila;_the perfect high school. The garden, in her opinion, was meant to have gloomy bougainvilleas sprouting up in random flower patches that were hardly watered, or slightly happier (if not sadder) rubber plants that sat up in fake perkiness, sometimes bearing tell-tale price tags clipped on a leaf or a company name carved tidily into it's stalk. But almost in a silent protest against the status quo, Gray High (as Amy had so fondly named it) sported bright yellow corn plants or sunflowers.

The buildings, deep in contrast from its yellow plants, were painted sullen shades of gray and white. Each of the flowerbeds were mounded with fresh, putrid smelling fertilizer that didn't seem to affect any of the students except for Amy and Cream as they walked to their next class.

"Amy, what _is_ that?" She asked as her nose wrinkled up.

"I think its fertilizer…" Amy barely replied, spluttering when she had to take a breath and putting a hand over her mouth, she twisted her head around when she heard footsteps clapping up behind her. Tekno finally caught up with the girls with her arms full of books, sniggering when she saw their expressions and re-arranged the tangle of workshop books heaped in her arms into something that didn't quite resemble she had just been a victim of a firecracker going off in her hands.

"Chicken fertilizer, nasty stuff when you first smell it, but you get used to it and it's great for the sunflowers, but brilliant for spotting new students…" A boy and a girl just walked past, the boy's eyes were watery and he was dry-retching. The girl looked amused and gave him a soft thump on the back when he started coughing.

Cream, however, looked like she had just seen Death himself.

"_Chicken_ fertilizer? You mean they _grind up _chickens to use for _fertilizer? _B-but that's animal cruelty! Unnecessary killing of innocent animals!_" _She squeaked, prepping for a speech about animal rights to anyone who had the time to huge brown eyes were bulging like they had just been magnified ten times fold. She looked remarkably like a bug.

"Uh, no, but thanks for putting that thought into my head…" Tekno winced as she spoke "It's their poo. Gets quite smelly in the summer sun, wouldn't you think?"

"Their _poo?_ Somebody has to have to lame-o job of walking around after chickens and waiting until they _poo?_Ambitions people, they must be…" Cream and Tekno laughed together, coming closer now to their first lesson, workshop.

Amy had half-expected to see the same thing as her old workshop classroom; wooden desks caked with wood chippings and spangled with textbooks. But instead, she was walloped in the face by something quite unexpected; pink.

Sure, she loved pink. She had grown up around the color her whole life (duh) and it always brought a smile to her face when she saw it. But not like this room.

Walls painted a pink so bright it made her blink, doilies draped over every desk and even a tiny corner crammed full of pink rabbit plushies and rocking-horses painted with pink hearts. A few disgruntled students sat at the desks, fidgeting with the lace on the doilies or gagging at the thick rose perfume sprayed around the shocking room (though not as much as the mulch).

Then, crammed in the corner and covered in a pink tablecloth, Amy spotted a wood-cutting table, and realized she wasn't in the wrong classroom after all.

"Oh! Some new students! Oh how good! Please, make yourselves at home!" A short and stocky pig lady cooed behind rhinestone-rimmed spectacles. She was wearing a giant big balloon of a dress stamped with pink hearts and a big bow barely tied around her wide middle. Amy was absolutely amazed to see her body weight supported by thick legs that got thinner towards her ankles, ending in two itty-bitty feet in pink heels.

Amy and Cream sat at a seat while Tekno sat in the one in front of them, next to the two-tailed fox she had seen on the bus. The two smiled at each other, shook hands, and swapped notes that had some complicated mathematical/scientific calculations scribbled on them like chicken-scratch.

"_A-hem-heghm" _the porky teacher up the front coughed, sounding much like she was having a brief coughing fit to get the kids attentions. Two-Tails and Tekno stopped comparing notes at once and stuffed the received papers into their bags.

"Good-_morning_ class!" She chirruped, her pitch sliding up and down in what she must have thought sounded like honey. It made Amy's tail curl. On the board she had written two words in swirly pink chalk: '_Mrs. Plum'_ Amy thought this was strangely suiting, and her thoughts flicked to the thought of who would marry this woman… Mrs. Plum's shrill voice pierced them again.

"I see we have some new students, _don't we?_" She glanced meaningfully at Amy and Cream; a bright, wide smile that was obviously trying to pass them the false message that they were welcomed. Amy, instead, winced and watched as Cream became very preoccupied with filling in all the little holes in the P's and O's on her timetable with pink ink.

"Could you please do _all_ of the class a _wonderful_ honor and stand up here to tell us a _wee_ _little bit_ about yourselves? _Hmmmm?_" She clasped her hands like she would like no other treat in the world than this, but Amy buried her head in her pencil case, apparently searching for a missing pacer and Cream started on her B's.

"_No?_" Her voice was starting to sound less and less sweet, and kids all around the classroom were turning to them and drawing a line across their throats. Amy got the message.

"OH! Miss Rose! I see you have _volunteered!_ How _nice of you!_" Her eyes strayed to Cream for a split second and they turned nastily cold, before flicking back to her and filling with unnatural warmth again. Cream looked like she was about to cry.

Making her way to the front of the class and trying to ignore the distasteful look Plum spat in the direction of her brown and blue shoes, Amy twiddled her fingers nervously and kept her head down as to not look in the direction of the class's curious eyes. Finally, she spoke;

"Um, hi. I'm- Ah- Amy… I think-"She blushed scarlet and a few giggles were barely stifled through the crowd of students. "I'm from the city, and I'm new here (more laughs and a silencing glare from Plum) Well- ah… I like designing and talking and… Um… I don't like rude people or fertilizer (Tekno laughed) so yeah… okaythanksbye" She shuffled as fast as she could towards the desk and avoided eyes again. Cream looked at her sympathetically.

The lesson was stranger than the introduction; less was it about cutting and shaping wood or anything to do with the subject, but rather which style of doilies would go with each cut.

"Remember class!" Plum had said in a cooing yet rushed voice "pale pink and white lace will go with _any_shape and size, but the room brightens up a bit with flowers or a kitten or two" At this point, Tekno seemed to be asleep, perched on her arm. Cream's eyes were milky and out of focus, even Amy's vision was getting foggy around the edges.

When Plum started to move on to the next subject (which flower goes with which color), the class looked like they thought a root canal would be more fun. Then, finally, bell chimed for them to move on to their next lesson. The students let out huge sighs of relief and stretched their arms and legs, tails twitching feverishly and ears bending and straightening.

The kids couldn't get into the halls fast enough; they pushed and shoved their ways to their lockers, stopping (to the dismay and annoyed groans of blocked kids in the flow) to talk to their friends about their first day back at school.

Cream and Amy, having discovered they had history together for the next lesson, walked through the thick crowd holding onto each others shirts so they wouldn't be separated. Tekno had to hurry off to gym before her teacher 'cracked the shits' with her lateness pattern that had obviously seeped in from the previous term.

When they reached the door to their next class, they let go of each others clothes and pushed open the door. Speckling the desks once again were chatty students, leaning over the gaps in between their desks to get a better hearing point for the fresh gossip.

All around the classroom were pictures of ancient sites and other strange stuff Amy had never seen before; the coliseum at dawn, a painted construction of old London Bridge and (when Amy had looked towards the ceiling) a giant map of the world. A relieving normal-looking history room in contrast to the workshop. A wiry little man in specs had just spotted them come in:

"Ah, good morning Ms. Rose and Ms. Rabbit. Such a pleasure to have you in our class this fine day!" Amy looked outside; it was still as gray as old fruitcake. She didn't want to know what this place would look like on a bad day. When she heard the loud rustle of paper signifying the opening of books, Amy scrambled for one.

"Now class, you won't need you won't need your books open for this class!" The teacher said, eyes twinkling when he spotted Amy giving him a thankful look. Cream had a very nice, neat stack; her history book on top.

For the rest of the class, the teacher (Mr. Nocktentine) had them reenact war scenes and clips from very famous scriptures. There was a handful of new students in this class too, blushing whenever somebody hit them with a fake sword or staring with their mouths open when Mr. Nocktentine galloped in on a steed (a broom with two conspicuous sandwich triangles for ears) making clip-clopping noises and waving a big plastic shield around. They had all been very sad to leave the classroom when the period had finished.

Amy and Cream met Tekno in the cafeteria for morning break.

"Oh- ok, see that guy over there? Mighty the Armadillo. Nice guy, bit strange at times but oh well… Ah! Over there! See 'im? Amy, that's Scourge. Watch it with him" She gushed, squeezing her juice box's contents into her mouth and throwing it niftily over her shoulder in to the bin beside her. No sooner had she breathed than she began to speak again.

"That's Rouge, the playboy bunny over there. Yeah, that one. She's OK, not exactly gonna win the Nobel Peace prize if you know what I mean. Oh, and over there! That guy riiiight-THERE! You see him? That's Eric and- whoa! Is that _Seth?_ Since when did they talk to each other? Adriana must be home sick- Wait… Nope, she's over there. Huh. I wonder what's happening with that… Oh god… Felix is coming…"

A white and teal hedgehog walked past, winked what he obviously thought was a sexy wink, and then strutted past. Cream scoffed. "There were _plenty_ of boys at my old school like that" She said distastefully "If I _wanted _a pimp I would have asked for one." For the rest of lunch she had a peculiarly sour look on her face.

"Felix isn't a pimp so much as a try-hard." Said a voice from behind. They all looked around and saw a girl Tekno hadn't pointed out before; She was a brown cat (with strange bat ears) wearing a shabby uniform and her hair in a scruffy plait. Her eyes were a toxic sludge green and a lapis lazuli blue. Amy spotted she had defied the school dress code by wearing fingerless gloves.

"You're new, aren't you?" Tekno said. The corners of the girl's mouth twitched before falling back into a stubborn line. "Yeah" She said and shuffled her tray in her arms.

"Why don't you sit down then?" Amy was surprised at how easily Tekno wanted to become friends with this girl, even when she looked like a bit of a dodgy character. With a start, she realized that she had come to accept Cream and Amy just as easily, it made her wonder… She would have to ask her when she was alone and corner her.

"I guess…" The girl glided past and sat next to Cream, who was trying to eat her yoghurt and watch the girl out of the corner of her eyes.

"How do you know Felix if you're new?" Amy blurted out when the girl had taken a seat. The pink hedgehog blinked a few times before sitting really low in her seat, blushing like mad. The girl took no notice of this.

"I've known him for ages, he's always been a bit of an ass (Cream gasped and spilled her yoghurt) so when he's giving off the impression he's a 'pimp', remember he has never had a girlfriend in his life." She began to eat her bagel and gave the blundering Cream a napkin.

"Never had a girlfriend!? Are you kidding? Oh. My. God. That is so funny! I am going to give him _hell!_" Tekno cackled, clapping her hands together and nearly falling off of the bench.

"What's your name, anyway?" Cream asked.

"Huh? Oh, it's Charity. What about you guys?" Cream, obviously a little startled that a girl who said 'ass' could possibly have a name like Charity, turned back to her food with a confused expression.

"I'm Tekno the Canary, this is Pinky Le'rou, and the last one here is Bon-Bon the Bunny" Amy snorted her lemonade out her nose and Cream looked around for a Pinky and a Bon-Bon, not getting the joke. Charity rolled her eyes.

"Come on" She said gruffly.

"Oh all righ'; this is Amy Rose, and this one here is Cream the Rabbit. It's a pleasure" she grinned widely and Charity matched it.

For the rest of lunch the girls played freak or unique; a game where they had to pick interesting characters out of the crowd and decide who was a freak, and who was unique. It wasn't necessarily mean; almost nobody got called a freak with the exception of a boy who had flipped another kid upside down to dangle for his change. Tekno made sure she said the evaluation very loudly so the bully blushed and set the kid on his feet, even dusting off a little dirt from his trousers before scurrying off.

When they ran out of people they started evaluating themselves.

"I am _definitely_unique" Tekno said jabbing a thumb to her chest with a cocky and mocking lift of her beak, all the girls scoffed. "Charity you are a freak (no offense) and so are you, Amy (no offense) Brown and blue is just that lil' bit freaky. Cream, I think you can take pride in being the only normal person here." Cream, obviously happy with the outcome, finished her milk with a cheerful expression.

The bell rang five minutes later, cutting off Amy's rebuttal to prove she was indeed _not_a freak and that brown and blue should be respected just like any other color combination. They hurried off to their next class; all the girls parting ways. Cream had Biology; Tekno had Math and Charity had Home Ec. Amy had English in room fifteen with Mr. Kipper, which she was looking forward to.

After climbing two flights of stairs to get there, she pushed open the door to her classroom. Inside she saw about half the class already inside, the other chunk obviously gone AWOL. When she looked to the whiteboard she saw a grid drawn there, inside each box were a pair of initials. She recognized this as a seating plan.

Amy let out a meek groan and searched for the A.R. that was her initials. She spotted in confusion that it was next to a S.H. When she worked out sheepishly that this was a new school and it was normal not to know who everyone's initials were, she moved back to the third desk towards the back, next to the window.

The weather seemed to have lightened up, she noticed, when she looked out the window. Or maybe that was just classroom fever; making everything outside your classroom seem more heavenly than it really was. Like a mirage, except more sinister.

Amy was wondering if she was ever going to go home to the City for the billionth time that day when the door burst open and the other half of the class tumbled in.

Almost every single one of them was drenched, their fur seeming down over their eyes even if they didn't have bangs. Some were laughing and walloping each other on the back; a handful seemed annoyed and threw a quick glance at the chalkboard before trudging over to their seats.

A cough from the front corner of the room startled her, what she had assumed earlier to be a very well placed book seemed to actually have a _reader_. He was a graying weasel with tiny half-moon specs perched on the end of his snout. The way he slithered along the room you would have suspected he was sneaking up on unsuspecting prey. You also cold have come to the exact same conclusion by looking at the faces of the students.

The wet kids cowered; picking up bushy tails and separating the fur with their fingers or rubbing the tips of their ears. One in particular had developed a case of the nervous hiccups; this seemed to encourage the teacher.

"The _first_ day back, I would never have thought you all to be so immature" Judging from the sound of his voice, he did. "I want you all to go to your seats; some of you will be blessed to be in the company of some new students" Groaning from the pack of kids "No more whining! This is you plan for the _rest of the term_. Get over it, they will not be changed." He stuck a thumb over his shoulder at the board, and a few eyes from the pack swiveled that way, but most were whispering among themselves mutinously.

"Too your seats, class! Five more seconds up there and you _all_ have detention!" They scrambled, finding seats. Amy felt one land in the seat beside her, and turned her head a little to see who I was.

She was very, _very _aware at the shade of red her muzzle had gone.

**With Sonic**

Sonic thought that being stuck with the new kid was _really, really_unfair. He was almost positive that this was revenge for the time he put am actual female weasel in his desk with the words 'mating season is here' tied to a little slip of paper around his desk. Then he had relished in the pinky-purple color he had gone.

He cast an almost annoyed look at the kid beside him; a slightly cute pink hedgehog with a red muzzle. When she caught his gaze she went redder and cast her eyes to the books below, scribbling in swirly chicken scratch the words Mr. Tungsten was writing on the board.

Realizing that red was not the original shade of her muzzle, Sonic set his gaze to wander around the room; Knuckles wasn't with a new girl, but was plunked next to Adriana. Her angry eyes flashed red at the teacher in a '_what did I do?'_ sort of way. They were both sitting on the edge of their seats to be as far away from each other as possible.

Rouge and another new guy were sitting next to each other; his eyes weren't meeting hers but seemed to have a rapid fascination with her chest. Typically, Rouge winked, and then turned to scowl at Adriana like she had taken her territory.

Tails, being the only one Mr. T seemed to respect because he was seated down next to Mighty, an actual nice guy.

Then last was Silver Wolf, still shaking slightly with laughter. His wolf tail twitched slightly to rid itself of water, and shot a thumbs up at Sonic. Tungsten scowled at the red gauntlet that so obviously defied school dress code, but since it was an accessory he could do nothing about it. Next to him was a total nerd, eyes magnified twenty times by his hug round glasses. He was a bear with overals (yes, overalls) and five pens in his front pocket seated neatly side-by-side in order of color.

"Miss Rose!" He boomed at last, the girl beside him jumped. "Your boots! They are **not** part of the dress code!" She winced "Stand up!"

She stood up, revealing brown boots with blue laces. Sonic had to admire her for her nerve, and looked admiringly at his own red shoes with white stripes; Tungsten had given him hell for that too.

"I-I'm sorry! The uniform shop didn't stock anything my size, a-and well…" She stumbled, touching the tips of her fingers together.

"You couldn't have gotten anything closer to the style? It _is_only black shoes and socks!" She flushed pink, fists clenching and unclenching.

"I'm _sorry_ sir, but not all of us have enough money to go throwing around for shoes and expensive new uniforms (just now Sonic realized her uniform looked a little beaten, like she had been wearing it all her life) so if I have a perfectly good pair of shoes, then I see no reason to go buying new ones! I'm _so sorry_ if it's not the color you want it to be! "she finished angrily. The class looked shell-shocked; most of them stared at her admirably. Tungsten had flushed pink.

"Ah-um… Well miss Rose if you don't have enough money to pay for them I see the case can be reevaluated…" she sat down in her seat, angry vibes rolled off her like waves.

"What's your name?"Sonic asked, bemused. She looked at him icily, and then smiled warmly. Sonic had the faintest impression of being dunked in a bucket of ice, then being thrown into a spa.

"Amy"

* * *

FINISHED THE CHAPTER YAAAAH! Tell me if it was good or absalutely shocking, I love reviews (Could you tell me if it was something like you've exerienced at school? I'm trying to simplify it so you can read and be all like 'oh yeah, I know what **that** feel like')


End file.
